A Curse of Luck & Love
by chubbycubby
Summary: If Vriska sent her bad luck to her neighbor, maybe she could kill two birds with one stone. Or maybe she's get all four of her quadrants filled quickly
1. A Blessing in a Curse

Vriska walked away from her computer in frustration. She was having the worst luck as of late, and Gamzee's advice only angered her: "just imagine your bad luck going away somewhere". Even if she was graced with that "miracle", where would she be redirecting her curse?

She looked out her window towards her neighbor's house. With her eight-fold vision she could see Equius fighting another slew of his killbots. She couldn't possibly curse him.

Vriska was gradually being distracted by watching Equius fight. At four sweeps, he was already stronger than most trolls twice his age. He could easily rip his killbots to shreds. He was so handsome…

Maybe if she gave Equius her bad luck, he would falter in his fighting and she could rescue him from his killbots! And then Equius would finally has red feeling for- This was a stupid idea.

Vriska made sure no one would see her actually trying this. She closed her eyes and imagined her bad luck slowly lifting from her and racing towards her neighbor. Just before the black mass reached him she heard Equius scream in pain.

She bolted out of her house and sprinted to Equius's respiteblock. She couldn't focus her vision long enough to see what was wrong. The strong troll's scream was rattling her think pan. What had she done? Why had she taken that stupid clown's advice?

She ran up the stairs two at the time. Vriska kicked open the door to Equius's respiteblock. Aurthour was trying to protect Equius from the last killbot. Vriska kicked it in the head and finished it off with a sucker punch. She turned to Equius and knelt down beside him

"Oh fuck," Vriska groaned. She gingerly picked up the broken horn. It made her own horns ache just to look at it. She shoved the small chunk into her jacket pocket.

She touched Equius with trepidation. His cries of pain quieted to sobs. Vriska couldn't even comprehend the pain he was in. She wiped his tears with her sleeve.

"It'll be okay…" she assured Equius while she stroked his hair.

"I'll never have a matesprite now!" he sobbed, "I'm going to be culled!"

"Don't say that!" she snapped.

"Now I'm even more of a freak…" he moaned as his sobs subsided. He sat up slowly and tried to massage the base of his broken horn.

"You're not a freak at all," she assured him. She was surprised to hear that bit of self-laothing, especially out a high-blood. Equius stayed silent and continued to massage his scalp.

"Let me help," Vriska started to reach for his horn, but her hand was swatted away by a disapproving Aurthour. She blushed deep blue, "I- I didn't mean it like that! I wasn't trying to…" she was sweating, she was blushing so much.

"Oh, o- of course," Equius muttered as he stood up, "Oh gosh that hurts."

"Aurthour," Vriska said, "isn't there anything you can do for him?" Aurthour gave her a distrusting look and trotted out of the room.

Equius walked to his workbench and sat down in his chair. He stated with his heads in his hands, "I apologize for my behavior earlier."

"No apology needed-"

"Still I-"

"You're really into robotics, aren't you?"

Equius did not like the change of subject, but he obliged her, "Yes, I enjoy it immensely. If you ever need anything built, I would be happy to do so."

Vriska started to walk towards him, "I'll keep it in mind…"

Aurthour canter into the room, between the two. He started to bandage Equius's horn, making sure to stand directly in front on Vriska.

"So what are you working on now, Equius, more killbots?" Vriska asked as he tried to peer around Aurthour.

"I am trying to make a robot that perfectly resembles a living troll. One with blood that could grow, feel pain, and- uh-" he looked at his hands, "do everything a troll needs to do."

Vriska raised her eyebrows, "That's a pretty lofty goal. Even the great Darkleer wasn't _that_ good."

"It would be a great honor to surpass him," Equius grimaced and sighed, "Aurthour says you should go home," he looked at Aurthour and added, "Your lusus must be worried for you."

Vriska rolled her eyes, "I guess if I have to, but," she smiled warmly at him, "If you need anything, don't be afraid to ask me."

Vriska walked home and sat in front on her lusus's web. She knew her Spidermom would have no advice for her, only contempt. She liked to imagine how the conversation would go.

"I don't know how to tell him I like him."

"Just say it, dear."

"But what if he doesn't like me back?"

"You should more scared of letting him get away."


	2. Help from a Moirail

Vriska regretted asking her moirail for this favor, but it was her only plan of action so far. Vriska heard a knock at the door, but didn't bother to get up. As per usual, Kanaya let herself in.

"So Vriska," Kanaya called up the stairs, "Any particular reason you want a book on robotics?"

"No," Vriska said with as little emotion as possible. Kanaya opened the door to Vriska's respiteblock with a grin.

"You're red for Equius!" Kanaya cried out in excitement.

"Yeah, whatever," Vriska snapped. She tore the book out of Kanaya's hand.

"So why aren't you over there now, asking him to FLARP with you and teach you robotics?" Kanaya pestered further.

"I'm not welcome there at the moment," Vriska replied. She opened the book and hoped the conversation would end there.

"What did you do?" Vriska asked.

Vriska totally ignored the question and tried to immerse herself in robotics 101.

"Tell me!"

Still no response.

"I'll tell everyone you like Equius if you don't tell me!"

"I tried to touch his horn and his lusus freaked out," Vriska grumbled.

"Oh! Vriska!" Kanaya gasped, "You are so forward!"

Vriska snapped the book shut, "You know maybe I will go-"

"Not before I give you a make-over!"

It wasn't that Vriska hated Kanaya's make-overs; she loved to indulge her moirail. She just wished Kanaya had a little more skill at it. Kanaya started snipping away at Vriska's hair almost immediately.

"You know Kanaya, it's pretty cool that you came all this way just to deliver a book and do my hair," Vriska said after a minute of wild cutting.

"Well..." Kanaya replied mischievously, "I did have one other errand to run."

"Kanaya..." Vriska's voice threatened murder.

Kanaya started to move backwards. Vriska ran her fingers through her hair to get it out of her face. She tried to read Kanaya's mind, but Kanaya said it first.

"I had to borrow a book from Equius!" and Kanya bolted out of the respiteblock.

Vriska jumped up and chased after Kanaya, "Did you tell him it was for me?"

"Maybe!" Kanaya was already out of Vriska's hive and halfway through the field.

"Come back here!" Vriska called out as she slowed to a trot. She panted in the field as the jade-blood sprinted away from her. As Vriska tried to catch her breath, her eight-fold vision caught Equius studying her quizzically from inside his hive. She had his book in her modus, so she might as well go over and return it.

She knocked and the door slowly opened: "Hello, Vriska."

"Hello!" wow did that feel lame, "I asked Kanaya for a book on robotics. I didn't realize she borrowed it from you, so I'm returning it."

"That book is far below my skill level. You may keep it," Equius stated flatly.

There was a long awkward silence before Vriska spoke up, "You should come FLARP-ing with me and my friends-"

"My friends and I."

Vriska touched her hair and suddenly remembered her half-finished haircut. She started to blush wildly thinking about how stupid she must look in front of Equius. She was too flustered to remember what she was going to say.

"I apologize for interrupting you," Equius went on in a kinder voice, "If you want me to, I will try this," he cringed at the word, "FLARP-ing, for you."

That "for you" echoed in her mind, along with every note Equius had written in his book. She could barely wait for the next session of FLARP-ing to come. When the night came, she could barely believe she was walking to Equius's hive in her costume.


	3. Seeds of Jealousy

Vriska leads her FLARP group on an intense campaign.

"So Eq,-"

"Equius."

"Right," Vriska forced a smile, "So, Equius, what's in your strife spectrum?"

"My bow."

"An archer, eh?" Vriska nudged Equius flirtatiously.

Equius mumbled, "I have yet to fire an arrow."

"At least you have your _amazing_ strength," Vriska gently squeezed his bicep. Equius pulled away and gave her an uncomfortable smile. Vriska let some time pass before she took another shot.

"My FLARP group has a few low-bloods in it, so obviously I'm the natural leader," Vriska dropped her voice a bit, "Speaking of low-bloods... Hello Aradia!"

"Hello Vriska," Aradia glanced at Equius, "Is this Equius?"

Equius practically knocked Vriska over to get to Aradia, "Yes I am! I am so very pleased to meet you," Aradia glanced at Vriska apprehensively, but Equius didn't notice, "You are the most beautiful troll I have ever laid eyes on."

"Do you need a towel?" Aradia said in disgust as she shook the sweat off her hand. Equius said yes, but Aradia was already walking away. No one had ever gone from acquaintance to sworn enemy so quickly as Aradia just had. Vriska would make plans for Aradia later; right now she had other irons in the fire to tend to.

"What a maroon-blood, am I right?" Vriska snickered, giving Equius another nudge.

"How could _she_ be a maroon-blood?" Equius sighed dreamily. He took a step in Aradia's direction and ran right into Gamzee.

"Brother! How's it going?" Gamzee laughed, slapping Equius on the back, "You look like you're riding a wicked high from that pretty lady!"

Vriska wanted to change the subject, "You're not going to wear your Grand High Blood outfit, Gamzee?"

"Nahh... All of that ancestor blood class stuff gets me so down, 'cause that's not the way to fill the quadrants of life" Gamzee drawled on.

"He's a high-blood?" Equius whispered to Vriska in a panic.

"Relax Eq," Vriska laughed as she wrapped her arm around him. She called out to Kanaya, "Where's four eyes?"

"Surprise, surprise, Eridan is running late," Kanaya groaned.

Vriska made her way to the small box set-up for her to stand on, "What about Terezi and Tavros?"

Kanaya answered, "They're changing into their costumes."

"Yeah! 'Changing into their costumes'!"

"Alright Nepeta," Vriska said as she climbed onto her box, "Let's keep the shipping to a minimum today."

"Stop wasting time!" Eridan shouted as he strode from the transpotalizer to the meeting spot.

"Give me a break!" Vriska shouted back, "Not only are you late, but you still need to assemble that piece of shit harpoon gun."

Eridan sat in the back and tilted his head down to hide his blush. Tavros and Terezi ran from inside Aradia's hive. Terezi walked by Equius and struck him with her white cane.

"Terezi, everyone knows you're not blind," Aradia droned.

"Well he didn't!" Terezi snickered.

"Hey Mr. Fussyfangs!" Nepeta giggled as she rubbed her cheek on Equius's arm. Equius stiffened up and tried to pry Nepeta from him, but she clung onto him tightly.

"Eyes up here, Nepeta," Vriska demanded. She really didn't want anyone else making moves on Equius, so she started the meeting.

"Today, we are taking down a group of high bloods twice our age. These trolls have attacked non-FLARP-ers, and have personally threatened our dear Tavros," she motioned to Tavros and everyone turned to look at him. Tavros pulled his knees up and a tried to hide from the crowd.

Kanaya and Vriska shared a fed-up glace before Vriska went on, "We are coordinating our efforts with another FLARP group. They do not intend to engage openly in FLARP battle, but rather to steal the treasure. Obviously, they will be caught, and that is when we will strike."

"Are we sure they'll show up?" Gamzee asked lazily.

"I have an inside sour-"

Terezi stood up, hitting Equius with her cane again, "It better not be Karkat and his weird friends."

Eridan jumped to his feet and yelled, "Feferi is not weird!"

"Eridan likes Feferi!" Nepeta sang out loud.

Vriska yelled on top of all of them, "Hey! Assignments!" the crowd quieted, and Terezi and Eridan sat down, "Eq, me, Gamzee and Kanaya will go through a secret entrance to the leader. This will prevent any of them from escaping with the good loot."

Most of them nodded, so Vriska went on, "Everyone except Eridan will eliminate reinforcements around the base, and then go inside the base to sort out whatever mess Karkat's group has gotten into. Outside, try to use stealth, inside, anything goes."

Tavros smiled weakly and looked at Terezi, "We're going to, uh, serve up some justice, right, T- Terezi?"

"Tavros likes Nepeta!"

Tavros turned pale and look at Vriska in desperation.

Vriska shook her head, but helped Tavros anyways, "As for you Eridan: moat duty."

"I'm always on moat duty!" protested Eridan.

"If everything goes as planned, you'll have a fishy friend," Vriska said with a wink.

Eridan gasped, "You mean Feferi..."

Kanaya turned around and added, "If you could pull her away from Sollux for two seconds!"

Vriska stopped the argument with a loud closing statement, "I've got a lot of irons in the fire, and they'll go cold if we stand around any longer. Let's go!"

Gamzee, Equius, Kanaya and Vriska moved in a tight pack through the dense forest. Though the others had given them the all-clear signal, they had to be cautious. They stepped over a dead sentry with Nepeta's claw marks across his throat.

The four trolls stopped in front of the hidden door. With her eightfold vision, Vriska could see not only the tunnel, but the mechanism keeping it shut. She found the hidden lever easily, and the door slid open.

Gamzee went first through the passage, followed by Kanaya, Vriska, then Equius. Vriska didn't like how large the tunnel was... No troll their age should need something so tall.

"Mother-fucker!" Gamzee yelped as he was yanked out of the entrance. Kanaya sprinted forth wielding her chainsaw. Vriska raced to the end of the tunnel. The leader was so old that he should've been in military service by now. The rest of Vriska's team was paralyzed with fear, but she whipped them into action.

"Fire an arrow, Eq!" Vriska commanded. Equius equipped his bow, pulled back... and it snapped in two. The high blood ignored the pathetic attempt and swung at Kanaya.

Kanaya revved her chainsaw and met the blow. Purple streak of blood spewed everywhere, but the high blood did not relent. Vriska unsheathed her dagger and went for his legs. She was caught by the hair and thrown aside by the elder's immense power. She had the wind knocked out of her, and could only watch helplessly as Kanaya's strength failed her. Equius was quick to defend her.

Equius went toe-to-toe with the elder, able to match every blow. Equius might have been smaller, but he was holding him his own. In frustration, the high blood kicked Equius in the chest. Both of them were thrown off-balance, but it gave the leader enough time to equip his harpoon gun.

Vriska wouldn't let him take aim at Equius; she threw her dagger. It hit the high blood square in the eye and he dropped his weapon. Equius followed up with a blow to the jaw so hard, the leader's bones audibly cracked. The high blood landed with heavy thud. They all held their breath as they waited for signs of life. Finally Gamzee prodded the leader with his clubs and confirmed he was dead.

"That was a lucky throw," Kanaya grumbled.

"Luck is what I am," Vriska replied just as she glimpsed Equius's broken horn. A twinge of guilt went through her.

Gamzee motioned to the door, "We gotta go help the other brothers."

Vriska was more interested in looting the high blood's stock pile, but after such a fiasco, she was in no place to argue. They walked through the door and to the stairs, but the other half of the group was already walking up the stairs.

"Where were you lazy fuckasses?" Karkat demanded as he charged forward.

Gamzee stepped forward and put his arm around Karkat, "We were holding it down with the big old high blood."

"Yeah and we got to deal with twenty of them!" Karkat snapped back; he pushed Gamzee's arm away from him, but Gamzee grabbed his wrist as dragged him up the stairs to the leader's room.

"Oh my cod! He's huge!" Feferi gasped as she circled around Karkat.

"I suppose this is an acceptable excuse," Sollux commented with a nonchalant shrug.

"Will you join our group now?" Terezi asked, give Karkat a slap on the back, "Seeing how we stuck around while the rest of your group absconded?"

"Let's split the loot and then talk," Sollux replied before Karkat could.

There was much bickering over the items. Ultimately Eridan got the best single piece of loot, the epic harpoon gun the leader had. Vriska didn't mind reaping her rewards strictly in boon cash. After all, with today's session she had finally rounded out her group.

And there was the other loot... As everyone else left for their hives, Kanaya and Vriska lingered behind. It was a grim task, but Vriska and Kanaya collected the corpses.

Kanaya broke the morbid silence with even darker news, "We're running out of FLARP groups to do this to."

"There's plenty of other groups," Vriska rebutted, failing to keep her tone light and casual.

"Vriska," Kanaya sighed, "this group threatened us directly, but now most are too scared of us to look at us. There are no more 'bad guys'."

"I have to feed my lusus, Kanaya," Vriska stated quietly.

"Why?" Kanaya asked, unable to feign neutrality.

"She's my lusus!" Vriska snapped.

Kanaya laughed, "She doesn't help you at all!"

"She does too help me!"

"She hasn't helped you with Equius!"

Vriska backed away from Kanaya, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Vriska..." Kanaya whispered. She took a step forward and reached out to try to comfort Vriska.

Vriska pulled away, "No. What's that supposed to mean?" Kanaya wouldn't answer, so Vriska went on, "That she didn't pretty me up like you did to Aradia?"

"N-"

"I know you made her that dress!" Vriska snapped. There was a pause in which Kanaya was sure Vriska was going to start crying, but Vriska refused to.

"I don't need good looks like Aradia does!" Vriska screamed at Kanaya, "I've got wit! I've got strength! I've got luck! But you know what I don't have?" Vriska swallowed, "A moirail."

Kanaya covered her mouth as Vriska ran past her. Vriska couldn't run home fast enough.

Vriska had difficulty stashing the corpses alone. Her modus scattered them around, and they would only fit in her freezer stacked neatly. It took a long time, especially with elder; Vriska wasn't even sure her lusus would eat a troll so old.

Vriska hated feeding her lusus. She hated watching her lusus eat. She hated hearing her eat. She'd rather imagine talking to her lusus.

"What's does he see in her, Spidermom?" Vriska would say.

"I don't know, dear. You are the prettiest troll on all of Alternia."

"Thanks, that means a lot."

It would mean more if someone had actually said it.


	4. Gills and Thrills

Vriska heard a knock. She peered out the window, half-hoping it was Equius, but instead she saw Aradia and Kanaya. Vriska was certainly not dignifying them with a response of any kind.

"We know you're in there!" Kanaya yelled, "We asked Terezi before we came."

So that was why Terezi wanted to know every detail of her house. That didn't change anything; Vriska still wasn't speaking to either of them.

"Come on, Vriska!" Aradia shouted. Now they were pounding on the door in tandem, which finally annoyed Vriska enough to stomp down the stairs. She opened the door a crack and glowered at them both.

"What do you wrigglers want?" Vriska hissed coldly.

Kanaya spoke in sincerity, "I want to be your moirail again…"

"No," Vriska started to shut the door, but Aradia jammed it with her foot.

"Quit it!" Aradia snapped, "I do not want to be matesprites Equius. In fact, I don't want anything to do with that creep, so can you stop being jealous?"

"Jealous!?" Vriska forced a high-pitched laugh, "At least I'm not the one with the back-stabbing, rude moirail."

"Aradia's not my moirail. You are!" Kanaya protested desperately.

"No, you are a back-stabbing quadrant meddler!" Vriska yelled. Then she saw something sharp moving fast and straight toward her. She felt a slight breeze as it just missed her face and implanted itself into the side of her hive. Vriska grabbed the end of the projectile and yanked it out of the wall.

"Eridan, I am going to ram this straight up your nook!" Vriska screamed, waving the harpoon in the air.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from my kismesis," Eridan called out as he walked across the field to her.

Vriska dropped the harpoon in disgust, "Are you serious?"

"Ever since we had that battle over being leader of the FLARP group, we have been fostering black feelings for each other."

Vriska said slowly, "Maybe you have..."

Eridan defended his ego forcefullt, "_You_ demanded to fight me."

"Because you said that was the only way you'd relinquish your claim to leadership, dumbass," Vriska said with annoyance.

Eridan added, "Even now you show your black disgust."

Vriska immediately rebuked him, "I don't want a fish in any of my quadrants."

Kanaya gasped, "Vriska! You can't say that!"

"Would you want to look at his gills while you pailed?" Vriska gestured at Eridan.

"No-"

"You haven't even seen real gills!" Eridan snapped. He was blushing fiercely and his fins were flared. He yanked on his shirt, but it was firmly tucked into his pants.

Aradia threw her hands out, "No, no, no! He's going to show us his gills!"

"They are totally normal!" Eridan shouted back at them. He finally yanked hard enough for a small section of his sweater to be pulled up. All three girls closed their eyes and screeched.

"They're not that gross; they're functional!" Eridan insisted.

Aradia whimpered, "Oh god I peaked. They move, they move, they move!"

"I could show you way worse!"

The shrieking grew louder and more high-pitched. The girls tried to move backwards into hive, but Eridan was just moving closer.

"You will stop that at once!" Equius's voice boomed over all of them. The immediately silenced themselves and opened their eyes. Equius was holding Eridan off the ground.

"Oh praise the empress you're here!" Kanaya said as she caught her breath.

"I could hear your shrieking from inside my respiteblock!" Equius snarled. He let go of Eridan, but still gave the troll a threatening look.

"Thanks for the resuce, Eq!" Vriska gave him a little jab in the arm, but he didn't notice. He was already enraptured by Eradia, trying to convince her to visit his hive. Aradia was nervously glancing at Vriska while declining the invitation, but Equius pressed.

"So Vriska!" Kanaya said cheerily to interrupt Equius's fawning, "How goes the quest for your ancestor's treasure?"

Vriska replied in the most strained of voices, "I'm at a standstill, remember?"

It was enough to draw Equius's attention, "What's the problem?"

"The next piece is in the Black Fish Sea," Vriska responded with a sigh.

Eridan nonchalantly said, "Maybe I could help you..."

Equius glared Eridan, "Or you could use one of my mechanical creations."

"I thought robots and water didn't mix," Aradia said to Kanaya who nodded in agreement.

"It's not a robot," Equius said to her, "It is a device that allows you to breathe underwater for an extended period of time."

"You mean a land dweller's suit, with the tank and goggles and all that?" Vriska inquired dubiously, wondering why Equius was calling it his own creation.

"It works like gills do. No tank is required," Equius looked quite proud of himself.

Vriska was glowing, "And why would you do me this favor?"

Equius's lip twitched into a smirk, "The device is untested, so I want someone to use it before I do."

Not the romantic answer she was looking for, but Vriska would take it it, "What kind of blue blood plays with his cards showing?"

Equius gave her a full smile, "One that needs you alive for other purposes."

Vriska raised her eyebrows, "I didn't know I was so important to you!"

Equius didn't reply, but the smile he gave her made her giddy.

Eridan stepped between them, "If you're going treasure hunting under the sea, then I'm going with you."

Aradia and Kanaya exchanged looks, and then Aradia spoke, "You sure those feelings are black?"

Eridan's fins flared, "What? Yes! I just don't want to be outdone by a machine."

Vriska wanted to die from the embarrassment, "If your machine is ready, we should go now. This iron has been in the fire for far too long."

As much as Equius begged her too, Aradia declined to come along and Kanaya walked home with her. This left Vriska with Eridan and Equius sitting on the south shore of The Black Fish Sea. Vriska was beside herself with excitement. Not only was she getting all of Equius's attention, but she was also going to find dice number seven.

The mask was compact and fit snugly over her nose and mouth. Vriska equipped her high-powered flash light and gazed into the Black Fish Sea. The light from the flashlight hardly pierced the black, glassy water. She was secretly glad Eridan was coming, since she would only have one hand free the entire trip.

"Before you start screaming again, I have to expose my gills," Eridan announced. He lightly ran his fingers across his gills, which twitched in a grotesquely fascinating way.

"Ugh," Equius groaned, "sea dwellers..."

"You got something against sea dwellers?" Eridan snapped

Vriska pulled off her mask, "Eridan, water, now." He was about to protest, but Vriska was fed up. She used her powers to force him to dive into the water. Vriska gave Equius a backwards glance and jumped in after Eridan.

Eridan was already in the deep part of the sea with his arms crossed. Vriska broke her gaze away from his sides and used her eightfold vision to locate the tiny die. Even with her vision it was difficult: The Black Fish Sea was a dark graveyard or ships riddled with monsters. Finally she saw the faintest glow, and set off in that direction.

It was a long swim, and every so often she would glance at Eridan. He actually looked quite handsome without the cape, the rings, the scarf... without all of the yelling... She couldn't believe she was thinking of him fondly when Equius was waiting for her on the shore.

She heard Eridan fire his harpoon gun, and then the wail of dying creature. She shined her light in that direction to find a lusus smaller than her impaled in the chest. Eridan swam over and catchlouged it. He gave Vriska a suspicious look, which she returned with a shrug.

They finally arrived to the sunken ship, once Dualscar's. Now Vriska's head was spinning. If Mindfang and Dualscar had been kismeses maybe history was fated to repeat itself? Did Equius's ancestor even know Mindfang...? The ancestor business was over-complicating things.

The chests were pitch black inside, but Vrisk could still see the magical die glowing brightly from with. She pried open the chest and retrieved it, as the next clue also hidden in the box. She didn't trust Dualscar to leave the other chests for her plunder, so she let Eridan have them. He seemed to make very choice selections, and when he could carry no more, left Vriska to the rest.

They gave each other a nod and headed back. The extra weight It was so pitch black, Vriska wouldn't have known her way if she couldn't see Equius sitting on the shore. The darkness seemed to swallow the light of the flashlight. It made her nervous that something was lurking behind them, which added to the nervousness that the mask could fail at any second.

Finally she breached the water. Equius helped her up, and removed the mask once she got on shore.

"Did it work?" Equius asked as Vriska tried to catch her breath.

"I'm alive, right?" she replied between pants, "You should let me test more of your devices."

Equius nodded, "I believe that could be mutually beneficial in the future."

"Gosh, you talk like you're from the sixth millennium," Vriska teased him; Equius looked annoyed so she fluttered her eyelashes added, "I like it."

Equius played with his hair, "Hehe... Thanks..."

Eridan rose from the water and looked at them with contempt, "You owe me, Vriska."

Vriska linked arms with Equius and laugh, "There are no debts between kismesises, Eridan."


End file.
